1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to an apparatus for displaying the condition of a plurality of zones or components. More particularly, the invention relates to a computer implemented environmental process control apparatus that communicates with a plurality of control components or environmental zones in a facility and is adapted to display the condition of each component or zone in a manner that allows the facility operator to recognize trends and relationships in the data.
2. Discussion
It is not unusual for modern buildings to include heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that contain in excess of 400,000 set and control points. Accordingly, as the operation of these systems often requires significant human involvement, effective management of facilities with HVAC systems requires an operator interface that displays or otherwise communicates the status of each system component or zone in a manner that is understandable by the operator. Particularly, the operator interface of the facility management system should display information relating to the condition in each of the zones, the status and state of the system controlled components, and related data in a manner that allows the operator to recognize trends and relationships in the data. A holistic view of the zones and components within the system allows the operator to quickly determine the state of the various components of the facility and to take a pro-active stance before alarms report, equipment fails, or people start calling in complaints.
Commonly, prior art systems display the relevant facility information with traditional line graphs and the like. However, given the flood of information generated by facility sensors and components, line graphs are unable to clearly convey a visual display of the necessary information to the operator. As a result, multiple line graphs with overlays or similar complicating features have proven to be an unacceptable display option particularly for large HVAC systems.